1-2, Barcelona lost again in the second leg of the Spanish national derby, in addition to facing Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing 4 consecutive defeats, the La Liga standings have fallen 11 points behind Real Madrid, basically missing the title defense. The Champions League quarterfinals suffered a 4-1 reversal at home, coupled with the loss to Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey ahead of schedule, Barcelona will basically encounter a big four empty situation this season!
Barcelona's squad is not in the limelight
Even more disadvantageous for Barcelona is that the gap between them and Real Madrid will widen next season, and perhaps they will face full pressure from Real Madrid in the next few years. Judging from the core lineups of both sides, Real Madrid's old, middle and young people obviously combine better, and veterans such as Modric and Kroos are still important choices for the team's key games.
Young players such as Vinicius, Rodrygo, Tchouameni and others have successfully provoked the pillars, Rudiger, Alaba and Militão are both dynamic and experienced, coupled with the addition of Mbappe, the first player in today's football next season, Real Madrid will have extremely terrifying instant power and personnel reserves on three fronts.
In contrast, although Barcelona also has veterans such as Lewandowski and Gundogan, and young talents such as Roque, Yamal, Gavi and Pedri are gradually gaining a foothold, Barcelona lacks enough outstanding and powerful Mesozoic stars, and the overall lack of talent in the team still exists in recent seasons.
Moreover, Barcelona coach Xavi and Spanish national team coach Delaforte have also been criticized for their excessive use of talented midfield stars such as Gavi and Pedri, and the two have suffered serious injuries this season, which is extremely detrimental to the development of young players.
Seat B intends to take a pay cut to join Barcelona
Barcelona's poor financial situation also restricts their options in the transfer market, and in many cases, Barcelona prefers to choose stars to join with a reduced salary or a visa. However, with Barcelona's golden signboard, they will still be favored by some powerful stars. According to "Daily Sport", Manchester City's midfield core B is willing to take a pay cut to join Barcelona this summer, and he believes that his Manchester City career is over.
The 29-year-old, who joined City from Monaco for €50 million in 2017, is the undisputed heart of City's midfield and has made 348 appearances for City so far, contributing 66 goals and 61 assists in 42 appearances for the city. He has scored 11 goals and provided five assists this season and is currently valued at €80 million.
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has publicly praised the B seat on many occasions, believing that it can play three, four or five positions on the field, and is irreplaceable for the team in many ways. Seat B had the idea of going to Barcelona last year, and that intention has not changed. He was interested in Barcelona as a team and the city of Barcelona, and asked about Barcelona players such as former Manchester City teammate Ilkay Gundogan and national team teammate Felix.
However, there are still two years left on his contract with Barcelona, and Guardiola has previously assured him that he can leave if the team is willing to pay a transfer fee of 58 million euros. If Barcelona decide to give up some important players in the squad for the B seat, they will receive enough transfer fees to acquire the quality of the champion midfielder this summer. In terms of the player's annual salary, Seat B is willing to make concessions in this regard, despite his current annual salary of more than 10 million euros, which is good news for Barcelona.
Xavi has pledged to stay
Barcelona coach Xavi announced his departure at the end of the season early, but from now on, he is going to "break his promise". According to several media outlets such as Romano, Le Monde Sport, Daily Sport, etc., after today's meeting with Laporta, Xavi will continue to coach Barcelona and fulfill his contract until 2025. Xavi announced in January that he would leave Barcelona after the season, but his attitude changed after leading them to the last eight of the Champions League.
In November 2021, Xavi officially became the coach of Barcelona and led the team to win the La Liga championship and the Spanish Super Cup in the 2022-2023 season. Interestingly, in the last round of the Spanish national derby, the fans at the scene shouted: "Xavi, stay!", and in the face of the "retention" from the fans of the sworn enemy, Xavi was obviously a little embarrassed.
Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has decided Xavi's premature departure was a bit hasty. With Zinedine Zidane, Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho and Flick all on the sidelines this summer, and Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel on the verge of free agency, Xavi hasn't had much to offer compared to them. In addition, after he announced his departure, not many teams invited him to coach, so at this time, taking advantage of the high-level retention to choose to stay in the team, it is the only and best choice for Xavi.
Of course, Xavi has also put forward his own conditions to stay, and he hopes that the club will try to provide him with the maximum resources to build a team that can compete for all the titles of Barca. Xavi has demanded a consistent right-back this summer, and former Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo, on loan, was disastrous in the Champions League quarter-finals and the second leg of the national derby against Real Madrid, conceding five goals on his side in defence. Xavi has already told the hierarchy that he will not buy Cancelo, who is expected to return to Manchester City this summer.